Don’t let Stuff Determine Your Value

Those that keep up with these things tell us that America has moved beyond the generation of materialism to a thing called, “Consumerism.” We no longer own things because of their value. We value ourselves by the things we own.

Remember the old Chevrolet commercial from a few years ago. Drive today’s Chevy, live today’s Chevy. Huh? How do you live a Chevy? You can’t live a car. You live a life.

Another car commercial. The engineers at Nissan are sitting around a table discussing why they design cars the way they do. One of them says, “Let’s face it you are what you drive.” You are what you drive. I don’t like the implications of that. If I am what I drive then I’m a five year old Ford Pickup with a bent right fender and a scraped up rear bumper. My bed is scratched and rusty and my clutch is slipping.

For a long time I was a 1972 Maverick Grabber. Canary Egg Blue. Before that I was a 1972 Buick Regal. Brown. With a bent right fender.

I love my truck, but I don’t want to be a Ford F 150. Some of you are a lot worse than me. That’s silly. Think about this. If you are what you drive and you drive your car into a tree then you become a wreck! I know some people like that. They get so tied up in their possessions that their possessions dictate life.

We are NOT what we have. The measure of a man has nothing to do with what he owns. If that were true then Jesus would have been worthless because he owned nothing. Listen to his words:

Luke 12:15 And He said to them, “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.”

As a father I love to give my sons presents. But my sons’ value to me isn’t in what they have. It’s in who they are. I give it BECAUSE they are valuable to me. Not to MAKE them valuable.

God blesses us with things not to make us valuable, but because we already are.

You have infinite worth and value to God regardless of what you own. Don’t let stuff determine your value. God has already done that for you.